XBox Head Phil Spencer Sends Mixed Messages on Project Scorpio and VR

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Microsoft unveiled ‘Project Scorpio’ to the world at E3 this year, stating that it would provide the Xbox platform enough power to run high fidelity VR experiences. But a recent interview with Xbox head Phil Spencer seems to show a company still unsure about its future in VR.

At E3 this year, Microsoft proudly unveiled that they had a secret weapon in the war against console hardware obsolescence and, as an important and timely bonus, allow the Xbox platform to offer “high-fidelity virtual reality” experiences. A clear response to Sony’s forthcoming high profile launch of its own PlayStation VR system in October this year.

Project Scorpio, Microsoft claims, delivers over “6 teraflops” of processing performance and will offer complete backwards compatibility for existing Xbox One titles. In this way, they say they’re bringing an end to the traditional console hardware cycle – one which forces its players to ditch their gaming libraries before being forced to move on up to the latest hardware. The announcement followed weeks of persistent rumours regarding the new system and that Microsoft had deepened its existing partnership with Oculus by releasing an Xbox compatible Rift.

When asked “So was VR support a key part of the Scorpio vision?”, in a statement which seems to pour cold water on Sony’s imminent entrance to VR with the current gen PS4, Spencer responds “I think the capability in the consoles that are on the market today to play high-fidelity true console-like experiences in VR … they’re just not powerful enough.” And yet, the central message behind Microsoft’s E3 Scorpio reveal was one of reassurance, that there would be no titles running on Scorpio that weren’t also available on the Xbox One (or the imminent S revision). Pushed on that point, of potential market fragmentation, Spencer says, somewhat evasively “I will say, we’re very focused on console games and what console gamers want, and I see VR as something different.”

Meanwhile, for VR fans and for those who believe immersive gaming represents a chance at redemption for a games industry seemingly obsessed with HD remakes and endless franchise rehashes, Microsoft’s commitment to VR seems a little lack lustre, as illustrated by Spencer himself. “Like, other people might try to say, ‘VR is the future of console gaming.’ I’m not saying that. I’m saying if you’re an Xbox One console gamer, we are so focused on making your experience the best experience you’ve ever had with the best lineup of games. We’re not getting distracted.” As an Xbox One owner, you may feel extremely heartened by that statement, as a VR enthusiast perhaps not so much.

Whether you agree with Spencer’s thoughts on current generation console power or VR’s future as a gaming platform, it does feel like Microsoft, in attempting to stay relevant in the face of Sony’s bold gamble on VR by revealing Scorpio, has put itself in an awkward position having to also appease its current generation users.

Of course this cautious approach may well pay dividends in the long run, I referred to Sony’s ‘gamble’ just now, and I meant it – it is. Microsoft and Xbox, by biding their time may set themselves to swoop into a more mature market later in the day, avoiding expensive R&D by adopting a version of the Oculus Rift, as rumoured prior to E3. But in the mean time, it’s falling behind the curve. With PSVR’s launch window in October onwards filled with over 50 titles, Microsoft could find itself behind the curve yet again.

Project Scorpio is set to arrive some time in 2017 with at least some VR content. Precicely how you’ll play that VR content is as yet a mystery however.

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Its not hard…if PSvr flops…no damage done. If its sells, Scorpio has the power to do it properly. Think the mixed messages are in the fanboys’ heads

SupaHype

Fabio76 was the first person I saw to say it… Everyone here talks like VR is definitely going to be the next hit… these vr units cost more than the consoles… possibly even the NEW consoles (Scorpio / NEO). Adoption rate for anything over 400 in gaming is normally not that high… Xbox One started to sell when they dropped under $400. PS3 didn’t sell at $400. keep in mind, these aren’t even consoles. Kinect 2.0 sold for $100-150 and still is not considered successful, even though it is still used by millions… You guys really think that “Millions” will be running out to buy these new VR headsets when they come out?

Ocelot forgot his meds

Yup…a 3-4 hour gaming session with a plastic headpiece on ?? Headaches, sweaty and not what I want !

Peter Schoofs

Together with their already established kinect tech perfectly adapteble to vr and no extra r&d with oculus hardware readily available they have an unbelievable opportunity to make a killer vr machine with scorpio.

Sunny Viji

kinect is dead, and they spent god knows how much on the tech and it failed twice, they just being cautious, rift uses a different type of sensor, maybe in a few years, if vr actually takes off, they will probs buy a ready made vr headset company,

Peter Schoofs

Maybe this could spark life in the kinect again. With full body scanning capability it is perfectly adaptable for vr. In this case the r&d cost of kinect isnt gonna get wasted…(but i dont have an xbox 1 so i dont really know how effective it is… But i see great vr possibilities if it is reasonably accurate…)

JoeD

The problem is that the Kinect is not up to the task. It is too unreliable to be a decent input for VR. Maybe it’s a software issue that can be solved, but for the love of God MS can’t even fix Skype.

usherjerksoffsonyfanboys

Its not unreliable as a motion camera tracking physical people….but to track sensors that are sending out signals from a htc vive or oculus rift headset, I can see the tech of the kinect being very accurate, as good as the light house.

SupaHype

I wouldn’t say the first Kinect was a failure… it moved 24 million units… In contrast, the Wii U has only moved 13 million… Is 24 million sold really a failure?

Mike

Yeah if they can incorporate the kinnect 2.0 into the oculus then they could posibly have better room scale interactive vr then the HTC Vive. Ocolous could use it for the pc and console, and they would now have a mass market to sell their rifts to.

beestee

Thought I remember reading that much of the Kinect 2.0 technology is being used for ‘inside-out’ tracking for the HoloLens.

Scorpio will support VR, an dyou’ve already got confirmation that large scale experiences like Fallout VR will show up on Scorpio.

In the meantime, Phil’s job is to reassure existing owners of the Xbox One, and prospective buyers of the upcoming Xbox One S that support for the hardware isn’t going away. To that end, he HAS to be as diplomatic as possible.

This is a non-issue. Scorpio will support VR, will support a high end headset and VR games will come to it. Given that the release will come at a time when HMDs are in gen2, it should be done pretty well.

Doctor Bambi

“Other people might try to say VR is the future of console gaming.’ I’m not saying that.” This is the quote that’s a little off putting from a VR perspective. It basically means, Xbox is going to be cautious about entering the VR space as compared to PlayStation who is much more invested in VR’s future. It just seems to suggest Xbox isn’t completely confident that VR is sustainable yet. Their machine might be VR ready, but if VR falls through, they can still push it as a 4K gaming machine. What concerns me about this is, by taking this approach, there probably won’t be a ton of VR content come next year when Scorpio launches.

These statements by Phil make perfect sense to me. They are basically waiting to see how VR shakes out so they avoid another debacle like the Kinect. This is easy for them to do because they already have a partnership with Oculous. Since people are already developing games for the Oculous it will just be a simple game port to the Scorpio. They dont have to put in the R&D that Sony is because Oculous is doing that on their own.

As I said in the article, I think that’s true and could prove to be smart. But at the same time, you can’t just wait passively for this stuff to happen and succeed to any great degree.

If MS want Scorpio to provide a significant platform prospect against PSVR and PC based VR, at a price point that is likely to be closer to a lower spec PC, they need to commit to developing unique content for it. IMO it won’t be enough to simply port pre-existing PC title over to the Scorpio and say “we’re done, there you go” – not only is it cynical, it does nothing to advance the technology or help MS to become a player in the next round where VR may well be an essential component.

beestee

I would say that much of Microsoft’s apprehension to commit to VR is two part. One, due to what has happened with Kinect. Two, if Microsoft is going to devote any R&D to this particular technology, it is most likely to be folded into HoloLens.

ShowanW

just because one company does something, doesnt mean every company has to do it…

that’s what happened last gen.. Wii launched and then next thing you know there PS Move and Kinect…

Company X has this, so that means Company Y has to answer with their own variant…

PrymeFactor

“Other people might try to say VR is the future of console gaming.’ I’m not saying that.”

There’s nothing off-putting about that. Anyone who says or thinks VR is the future of console gaming is an idiot.

Majority of people will continue to play games in the usual way. VR will get significant traction and marketshare, but it will coexist alongside traditional gaming.

ZahaDoom

Actual working consumer level VR technology is revolutionary , there’s nothing like going INSIDE the game, INTO the created world, YOU being surrounded by IT.

Blockass graphics or not, it’s the immersion that changes the experience.

Mixed messages are “We’re all in on VR” but “We’re not really sure it’s the future of console gaming” and “All Scorpio games will be backwards compatible with Xbox One” versus “Except all the VR ones.”

In truth, you’re right the headline could have better relayed that the focus of the piece was really about Microsoft’s non committal approach to VR and its lack of enthusiasm for it.

JoeD

Being “all in on VR” and VR not being the “future of console gaming” are not mutually exclusive. Both of these things can be true at the same time.

And there was very little chance that all future games would be backwards compatible on the “old” Xbox One.

I find it bizarre that people are so willing to roll over and say “Hey, sure he said that officially to the world but you don’t REALLY believe it do you?” – that’s not good enough.

Gilbert Nicks

They also told the world all first party xbox one titles will be play anywhere titles. And then back peddled. Ideas and plans change. He is trying to say scorpio has the power for vr. But They are not going to focus on vr centered game… honestly I see them as in first party. Releasing games that can be played without vr but have it built in similar to how some games supported 3d tvs. Vs psvr games can only be played with vr headset. And that is how I see them releasing the same games for xbox1 and 1s. Do I hope some pure vr titles come to scorpio sure…. do I want scorpio to support oculus oh yeah cause then I can use it on both pc and console….

I can see how this can feel like mixed messages. But we are also reading paraphrased quotes and has anyone asked him to elaborate? I still want to see original xbox IP to come back… voodoo Vince where are you???

SupaHype

Texazzpete – that was the best summary of this article I read so far…

JoeD

“And yet, the central message behind Microsoft’s E3 Scorpio reveal was one of reassurance, that there would be no titles running on Scorpio that weren’t also available on the Xbox One.”

If you ever truly believed that then you were truly delusional.

TheCellGames

I don’t see the mixed messaging unless you were expecting the horsepower the Scorpio will have to be just for VR. This is Phil saying, this console is for those who want VR and for those who don’t (like me). Microsoft isn’t investing much either if they just allow oculus and htc to use their devices instead of developing their own. They’re basically saying, we’re gonna be flexible with this. Also, I don’t see MS pulling off some gimmick again just to sell hardware, they learnt from kinect.

Instant_Street

We don’t know that VR will be the future of gaming.

Look at what’s going on with augmented reality now with Pokemon. Hololens may be far more relevant all of a sudden.

As for his comments, do you really expect him to bury the current consoles by saying the wrong thing. He’s a smart guy, how about having some responsible titles for your article instead?

F J

“And yet, the central message behind Microsoft’s E3 Scorpio reveal was one of reassurance, that there would be no titles running on Scorpio that weren’t also available on the Xbox One (or the imminent S revision). “- What E3 did you watch. Your confusing Sony message with MS. They said there might be Specific Scorpio games. They just said all XO and XOS games will be forward compatible.

Nettrick Nowan

I find the title to be spot on and rather representative of most messages coming from Microsoft after E3. There is so much confusion coming from Microsoft these days; this author is not the first one to mention it either.

Nemesis

Because Microsoft is behind and they’re scared of the competition.

Xpower1spikeX

It’s not because they’re behind or scared, geez are you a lil’ kid? If anything they’re bringing the big guns and and don’t know what they’re shooting. …pew pew

cweb1988

it’s really not complicated or confusing at all dude. What don’t you understand?

ZahaDoom

Microsoft’s announcement of Scorpio was nothing more than an attempt to muddy the water in front of Sony in 2016. They had nothing to officially show, and the mixed messages about exclusives to the system are puzzling.
If Scorpio DOESN’T have exclusive titles I’ll be shocked. It Doesn’t make a lot of sense if the specs are even close to think this isn’t a totally new generation.
I think as a global brand Xbox is wounded, and they only threw this Scorpio info out there just to keep Sony from going over the top, with psvr info and neo at E3.
Microsoft seemed pretty unsure of the message at e3, I don’t think that went unoticed by most gamers, minus the fanboi.

PrymeFactor

To be honest, this comment section was 100% devoid of fanboys, until you showed up.

ZahaDoom

Yeah that’s me, a fanboi, lol. I never owned a single Sony playstation system since it’s inception, and I have owned every Xbox since it’s inception, until this generation.

I wasn’t blind to Microsoft’s clear inability to know it’s market or its customers. They WEREN’T building a gaming machine, they were building A DRM nightmare of a entertainment box.

If your on board for your kniect to be watching you, and ensuring there’s even a user in front of the system, or to be charging you PER PERSON, for how many people are watching a movie in your own home, be my guest, keep supporting Microsoft.

I was a religious Microsoft supporter, until they s*** the bed. I will go to whatever system is the best, I won’t be locked into being stuck with an inferior product purely based on loyality.

I would still have Nintendo if they concidered me part of their customer demographic , but they choose otherwise years ago.

Last Gen a lot of 360 fans were pretty unrelenting and harsh to PS3 fans. I believe a lot of these fanboys did that to feel on top. To feel like they were the best. Want to know what happened to those guys? When PS became the bigger choice they jumped ship to the faster sailing one so they could continue them being on top. So they could continue to fanboy. It’s starting to seem so.

Meanwhile a lot of people are content with both but some kids just got to preach which is the best every single day. I Wonder what would happen if the Sony ship started to sink.

ZahaDoom

Well I switched pre-launch, not when “PS” became bigger, that microsoft e3 announcement that confirmed the rumours of Xboxs DRM Orwellian nightmare machine, that was the day I jumped ship. Most of you have forgotten the Xbox One Microsoft really envisioned before all the changes.

Hey I know what I’m doing if a ship is sinking, I’m getting off, and I did.

How could we ever forget. I mean really most PS only fans constantly bring it up. They also make it sound a lot worse than it really was. Most people didn’t even know what DRM was. They just knew people didn’t like it and were so upset by it. Yet, MS wants to be like Steam in almost every way.

Console gamers at that time were not into digital gaming at all. They still prefered discs. Guess what though. As I kept telling people that will change and people screamed “NEVER” repeatedly… it did change. More and more people buy digital now than ever before on console.

Now I’m not saying I liked what they were doing and I’m glad some of it ended up the way it did.. However people turned it into a witch hunt and you want to know who pushed it that way? I’ll give you one guess. The one company that would reap all the benefits. The same tactic that was pulled with their new movie the Ghostbusters. By turning a crappy movie into mysogyny wars. Same tactic applies in the console wars.

I own a PS4 and buy only it’s exclusives but I will never understand the religious nonsense that some of these PS fankids preach. They don’t care to just enjoy what they got they want to destroy anything or anyone who doesn’t agree with them 100% To me that’s not a gamer at all. That’s someone bought and paid to think.

ZahaDoom

Everyone I know still buys physical, except digital sales when you get great deals.
Resale still offers value to many consumers and data rates and storage space are still issues for digital distribution, plus consumers digital rights are proping up worldwide and starting to create issues for the dreamers of pure DRM and ownership and the right to remove.

Either way the only paid crowd I’ve seen actively working this entire generational cycle seems to be supporting the Microsoft side of the battle, the recent amount of, “paid for”, disinformation put out regarding psvr and it needing the neo has been just laughable.

I think a witch hunt was appropriate when a company is trying to tell you, that you don’t own the rights to resell the game you bought.

If Sony is paying me I haven’t seen a dime of it, or from any third party paid for social media warriors service that is clearly being used by one side.

Unfortunately I’ve been paying Sony this generation, something I wasn’t willing to do Microsoft, if you can’t see that principles are important, and that versus a corporation your only weapon is to vote with your dollars.

Millions voted, why people feel it necessary to defend a corporation when they take anti consumer stances is beyond me.

That’s the funny thing. I don’t blindly support either. I just don’t try to idolize one and demonize another. It’s an even playing field. Since when does any corporation care? It’s just whether or not we are stupid enough to believe them or not. It boils down to how good are they at making us think they care.

I mean if you truly want to support great consumer practices like you make yourself out to be in hero land. Then you wouldn’t support either company because they both are guilty of anti consumer practices. Both. Not just one. Do we only point the finger at the most recent infractions to consumers or do we actually look at the whole of both?

Honestly it’s not all that bad but if we are gonna point fingers and pretend these are the biggest concerns in the industry let’s make sure we don’t willfully forget where all these fingers point. I don’t but I’m gonna use them to enjoy games anywhere. Why? Cause I like games. Not the corporations that pretend to be our friends.

I’m happy that people feel content with their prefered choices but it’s not exactly roses and peaches on either side. Some companies just know how to paint a picture to the public. That shouldn’t make it OK to constantly push it in people’s faces while ignoring their own backyard is kind of lame.

ZahaDoom

No blind support here, and zero idolizing. If you want to hunt back you’d find many posts from me going after Sony, espically during the blueray/hddvd days, you said, you enjoy games, so do I, not supporting either company wouldn’t do me any good.

Microsoft screwed up big time this gen, and honestly this latest Scorpio announcement shows me they have learned nothing at this point.

No where am I ignoring my own back yard. But if you can’t see how THE SCORPIO announcement was rife with mixed messages and clearly them trying to “paint” a picture to the public, that’s kinda lame.

Depends how you look at it. I’m not 100% sure about Scorpio. If Xbox really opens up the gates and allows pc gaming on it. Without forcing 4k 30fps and actually give people some advanced options to mess with then they could have a positive on their hands.

It seems they are shooting to add one or both of the vr headset companies to it. Which really opens a lot of options to consumers. Too early to have any clear defined answers so yeah it will come across mixed because we don’t know anything about. So while they are securing things and locking them down we will have to wait qnd see. Personally if Xbox made a steam like box. I think it would be far more successful than Steamboxs. Why? Because Xbox is in the console space. Steamboxs weren’t and they pretty much marketed to PC gamers.

I guess depending on someone preferences it could be negative or positive. If you love console wars this will be a great opportunity it to perhaps spin it negatively in preperation for damage control in the future or spin it positively to point out its power over the competition.

Not sure how it’s a negative thing though.

Fweds

He is also “Revolver Ocelot” AKA “Mr Xrat” etc. Etc. Just another obsessive Sony Lapdog.

Kinect

You nailed it.

drjonesjnr

Yea totally agree I mean what happened to cloud power? They have flip flopped so many times This gen its hard to keep up

Chris7

I’m with the you man, they need to be a little clearer if they plan on selling these things .
My they are far behind sony, and saying things like this…sends mixed messages to consumers, if you are smart enough to read between the lines and ya know everything more power to you.
But this type of talk is a good way to loose a large portion market to sony.
But they seem to be okay with anyway so….

XbotMK1

The reason why Phil has been lying and sending mixed messages the past few years is obvious. He has been trying to do damage control for the fact they don’t have a headset to compete. Phil Spencer stated that they aren’t working on their own headset and after PSVR was announced Microsoft went around asking developers about VR.

Notice how Microsoft has been downplaying VR but at the same time showing off Oculus at E3.

– Microsoft has been panicing behind the scenes. That is why you saw Microsoft mentioning VR and showing off Oculus at their press conferences even though they don’t even have their own headset or VR games. It was so they could stay in the news. “Look we’re in the VR game too, but not.”

– Microsoft decided to copy SIE but they have to wait for the Scorpio because they don’t have their own headset in the first place, but they trying to damage control this fact because it makes them look pathetic, and thus they decided to make a vague VR announcement at E3 about Scorpio a year and a half early.

And viola. Phil is basically spin doctoring to hide the fact that they’re really just begging people to “wait for us”. Now Microsoft drones are defending Microsoft’s behavior and hypocritically praising VR.

Andres Benitez

Actually they do have their very own headset, It’s called HoloLense, they just haven’t figured out how to make that device cheap build!!!

just informing you all…

SupaHype

Havent had a headset?!?, the Occulus Rift ships with an Xbox 1 controller and has since the beginning of the year. Regarding its power, Sony head even said its more powerful than the unreleased PS VR headset -> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daryl-deino/the-sony-playstation-vr-f_b_10936620.html
To think that VR is going to be the next big wave in gaming is truly taking a chance. We have 40-70 TV’s in anywhere from 1080-4k resolution and all of a sudden we are just gonna stop using them to put on a small 6 inch headset screen… Then factor in the price too $400-$600. I truly don’t see VR as being more than a hardcore niche in gaming.

Oh please ive blocked 3 different accounts form you.
Your a very upset xbox fan girl who’s thrown his dolly out of his pram because his favorite console is an utter disaster

Fweds

And would you like to name ANY of those accounts ? You haven’t blocked me because I don’t need multis as I’m confident with my reply’s and I don’t go on Playstation news as you do on Xbox.
Anyway stop trying to take your multi problem off topic.

Or ya know VR may be best played on stronger better hardware than the current “consoles on the market”. Like he said. I mean tbh you are not gonna get really great graphics on these headsets unless you have the power to match it. It will be trimmed down greatly to keep it high frame rate.

There have been many reviewers who have said it’s more about “presence than graphics” on the PSVR headset but that doesn’t change the fact that people are still gonna want the best graphics to feel like they are immersed into these worlds too. It will still be fun on any device but eventually people are gonna want a better graphical experience.

cweb1988

VR is lame anyway in my book. Not interested in it at all really. It’s like 3D or Kinect, or move or any of the other dumb peripherals.

nathan

all Microsoft has to do is add a update to Xbox Scorpio and boom instant oculus rift support. i don’t even think they have to ask oculus for permission. it’s beneficial to both of them so i doubt they would say no.it’s good for pc gamers as AAA title’s will get vr support more quickly.

The Playstation 4 is not powerful enough for VR. But Sony rushed to milk the VR cashcow ASAP. I think Microsoft’s strategy is better. That is, only embrace VR when your console is capable, no half-assed attempts.

sazse007

I havent seen many negative responses to Xbox Scorpio so far, except for the obvious trolls, fanboys and clickbait articles. Maybe MS is just holding its hand, waiting one full year to see if VR will either take off or flop. If it fails, it won’t have invested in a system fully dedicated to it. But if it succeeds, I bet it will be Oculus Rift and probably Vive compatible, as a mid to high end win10 pc.

ShowanW

another horribly written article trying to get hits from the Xbox name…

phil spencer was pretty clear…
it will have the power (and drivers) to do vr
it will have the power to do 4k
we want to let someone else do VR Headsets while and (MS) support their efforts

CinemaConFan

When Spencer says “I think the capability in the consoles that are on the market today to play high-fidelity true console-like experiences in VR … they’re just not powerful enough…”, this does not of necessity mean that current Xbox One consoles won’t be able to play future VR games, rather, at least in some cases, the current console will be able to play VR games, just at LOWER FIDELITY/QUALITY than Scorpio…if a developer chooses to allow that.

Also, people should realize that eventually there will NOT be total compatibility between Xbox One and Scorpio games. The model being used here resembles that of smartphones. There are many apps that only work with more current iPhones for instance…but apps made for older phones/iOS versions are generally supposed to work on newer versions. Instead of complaining about lack of compatibility, let’s get excited about a genuinely powerful new console that will enable better games.

It seems inevitable that Microsoft will have some type of trade-in to allow existing Xbox One console owners to get Scorpio at a reduced price. And with Scorpio being at least 4 times as powerful as the first Xbox One model, that really is a next-generation console. Sure, the leap between Xbox 360 and Xbox One was greater, but 4 times more powerful is A LOT. That will make a huge difference in the quality of what a developer can put onscreen.

Roflastnkle

Embarrassing that on gaming sites there seems to be so much confusion. People are trying to be confused. Microsoft has no plans as of now to produce their own VR headset. But it is possible that other 3rd party ones will be functional. But Microsoft isn’t going to go out and endorse those headsets yet as they may have a sponsorship deal in the future. Scorpio is around 15-16 months away. Stop trying to read into the fog. Do you know what I am confused about? Sony’s NEO. I want one bad for Battlefield 1, but they haven’t said a word publicly.

Barry Harden

I think it’s quite clear Phil realizes the Scorpio isn’t suited for the demands of the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. He’s backtracking the optimism so it won’t burn him in a year from now. Frankly I don’t see why anyone would be surprised by this. The VR requirements for Rift right now surpasses the technical specs of Project Scorpio.

Eddie Battikha

Xbox was always powerful but lacked first party exclusives big time, thats y when I switched to Playstation i got hooked on their exclusives and I’m mostly a campaign gamer playing an hour to 2 hrs every other day.